Unlocked 3G iPhone to Launch in Italy?

[seedster2]

People are assuming that multiple carriers means unlocked.

It could simply mean as others have stated that there will be multiple carriers selling iphones locked to their network. This is a great way to spur competition and force the carriers to sell phones with reasonable carriers.

I know most of the blame falls on the greedy carriers, but I recall when everyone stated that Apple would be changing the way the mobile business works for the better with the iphone. To date, I have seen little evidence that customers have benefited more since its introduction aside from the device itself.

 

[Rot'nApple]

No, in the States we work full 40 hour work weeks and do plenty of overtime. The "an" is surely a typo when this poor sap was multitasking and hit the "n" key and space bar at the same time.
However, when our "h"s go silent at the beginning of a word, we tack on the "n" to our "a"s.
Give it an hour, and you'll understand. That, at least, is an honest opinion.

The King's English is dead in America. Sure, people try their best with spelling and being grammatically correct, but "American English" is spoken in the U.S. and the "King's English" for Great Britain.

My pet peeve is ending a sentence with a preposition such as, "Where is the Apple store at?"

and

The word "a lot" is two words!

That being said, feel free to burn any spelling and grammar errors I may have made in my rant.

 

[bigmc6000]

So that explains why apple has fallen on their faces when it comes to iPhone sales outside of the US, the phone has no value to the consumer at the extreme price they have set for it?

I would hardly consider the #'s they have between the official overseas numbers and the number of unlocked iPhones to be "fallen on their faces."

I don't think Apple ever expected the iPhone to take off overseas as it has here in the US in it's current state (EDGE). I'm fairly certain the only reason they released it in those countries was for the extra cash and to create a presence of the iPhone for when they made a 3G version...

 

[giokant]

I'm Italian and I live in Italy. Apart people provided with business mobiles by their own companies, I guess I know at most three people who signed a contract with some operator for their private mobile phone. All the rest is using pre-paid subscription, without contracts. Really, the contract-based business model is something that can not realistically be applied here in Italy.

The pre-paid card will fade in Italy too like it hapened in all the other countries.
In Italy is still popular because just until last year the mobile-operators could charge the consumer with really high re-fill fees. So...it was not in their interest to promot contract-subscription because it was much more profitable (for them) to let the users be with pre-paid phones.
The former center-left goverment of romano Prodi, alligned Italy with all the other european countries, giving sever rules to the operators and forbid them to charg a "refill-fee".
Infact now almost all the operators started to promot contracts (ex 3, or Tim).
Im quite sure the iPhone will not be pre-paid.
Tim will sell it with a 1 or 2 year contract .

 

[BongoBanger]

I don't think Apple ever expected the iPhone to take off overseas as it has here in the US in it's current state (EDGE). I'm fairly certain the only reason they released it in those countries was for the extra cash and to create a presence of the iPhone for when they made a 3G version...

And you're basing that ludicrous statement on what research exactly?

 

[bigmc6000]

The King's English is dead in America. Sure, people try their best with spelling and being grammatically correct, but "American English" is spoken in the U.S. and the "King's English" for Great Britain.

My pet peeve is ending a sentence with a preposition such as, "Where is the Apple store at?"

and

The word "a lot" is two words!

That being said, feel free to burn any spelling and grammar errors I may have made in my rant.

Oh don't worry, it's not just you. Americans know that ending in a preposition and saying "alot" is wrong and most people will recognize it as such. However, given the propensity of Americans to use slang it has propogated into common speech. But, as I said, it is still wrong and there are plenty of Americans who know not to end sentences with 'that'.

Personally, I give my friends crap for abhorrent grammar mistakes (usually "your" instead of "you're"). :-D

Yeah, they all love me! haha

 

[sjo]

I would hardly consider the #'s they have between the official overseas numbers and the number of unlocked iPhones to be "fallen on their faces."

I don't think Apple ever expected the iPhone to take off overseas as it has here in the US in it's current state (EDGE). I'm fairly certain the only reason they released it in those countries was for the extra cash and to create a presence of the iPhone for when they made a 3G version...

considering the european operators are putting iphones on firesale to avoid complete failure, i think it's quire certain that the european sales have dissapointed all the parties involved, including apple.

there're several reasons for not to throw a new product to market not expecting it to sell, the lack of iphone sales in europe has made the negotiations with new carriers much more difficult for apple, the image of the product gets ruined, etc etc.

besides, the us sales have not been that great either. it's sold ok, but nowhere near the numbers you'd expect based on the hype.

 

[OS X Dude]

You know what? I don't care.

Bought my 8GB iPhone today (can't wait for tomorrow!!!!) and i don't need 3g. 02 has no 3G coverage where I live and if all else it is going to include a 3.2MP cam and OLED screen (which it probably will) and have more storage (when my 16GB touch feels empty) then I don't want to pay extra for those "privileges" (one of which I can't use) when they already have something that fits my needs.


Just wanted to get that off my chest thanks everyone!!

 

[EagerDragon]

who's in italy? around 60 millions people, more or less six times the whole population of Australia

and the amount of mobile phones in italy is in average two phones per each person. Total: 120 millions. What about refreshing a little bit your geographical knowledges?

Now you got me. WHY 2 phones per person? That sounds a bit odd.

 

[bigmc6000]

And you're basing that ludicrous statement on what research exactly?

You're calling an insanely obvious statement "ludicrous?" 10 seconds worth of thought will let you realize that they knew the European iPhone wouldn't take the continent by storm. Evidence? Look at the strapped supply of iPhones they have. Go over to AI and look at all the analysts comments on it and it's quite clear.

Oh, and they really aren't far behind (if not right on pace) to hit SJ's goal for phone sales by the end of this year.

 

[AdamWhite]

hi,

i'm italian and after this news i'm sure that i'll buy my 3G phone in the apple store in USA when it come on the market...

in Italy it will cost about 499€ i think (~700$) and it's a thief imho...

just watch the price of all the other apple (and not) products... if in USA costs 399$ in italy cost 399€ ...
i don't like this...

bye..

Try $800.00 - US Dollar ain't the best right now - I'm thinking though that if they have an unlocked iPhone in Italy, what's to stop people from copying that firmware? I wonder if it will only be a firmware mod - I'm on board with you though --

http://www.3GiPhoneInfo.com

Adam

 

[mark151]

Repubblica is maybe one of the last papers left which is not under Berlusconi's control, and the main one oppositing to him.

Anyway it's always under politicians and against freedom.

it's definitely more authoritative than a former actor who's shouting against banks and their power and stuff like that, but then he sells on line from his blog his DVDs, of course by credit card payment, as banks like most - so please, let's be serious

He's a comic, he should eat something somehow. But what he writes, shouts and organizes he does it as free citizen, and we, as free citizens to,o go with him and try to make italy a better place.

 

[MrCrowbar]

You know what? I don't care.

Bought my 8GB iPhone today (can't wait for tomorrow!!!!) and i don't need 3g. 02 has no 3G coverage where I live and if all else it is going to include a 3.2MP cam and OLED screen (which it probably will) and have more storage (when my 16GB touch feels empty) then I don't want to pay extra for those "privileges" (one of which I can't use) when they already have something that fits my needs.


Just wanted to get that off my chest thanks everyone!!

I don't think it will have an OLED Screen. Those are bad to read in the sun. THe current iPhone screen is great in sunlight because it reflects just enough light. I say more storage, same display. The camera doesn't really need more pixels, the optics don't really do much more.

 

[Compile 'em all]

This is how the 'unlocked' phones work in France.

The French officially unlocked iPhone works EVERYWHERE. There was a bug in appsupport prior to 113 that caused the phone app to crash when using a non-french SIM. This bug was fixed.

So let me repeat this, an unlocked french iPhone does work everywhere.

 

[northy124]

Nice to know that the 3G iPhone will be released in the EU before US, Why is it that everyone expects the 3G iPhone to be released in the US first, What's so special about America nothing thats what (In Mobile terms, And in general terms George Bush flushed the country down the toilet) you have the worst 3G service around (From what I have seen/experienced when over in US with 3G mobiles).

Anyway 3G in Italy is a good idea to test it on a excellent 3G Network to see how it goes, It will be very successful I think.

 

[Lycanthrope]

Now you got me. WHY 2 phones per person? That sounds a bit odd.

No, not really, one phone for the wife to call and another for the girlfriends...

By the way, it's "Queen's English" not "King's"...

 

[BongoBanger]

You're calling an insanely obvious statement "ludicrous?" 10 seconds worth of thought will let you realize that they knew the European iPhone wouldn't take the continent by storm. Evidence? Look at the strapped supply of iPhones they have. Go over to AI and look at all the analysts comments on it and it's quite clear.

Oh, and they really aren't far behind (if not right on pace) to hit SJ's goal for phone sales by the end of this year.

You're not being serious here, are you?

How about you go over to the financial press instead of AI - which, let's face it, isn't the most independent or reliable of sources? This is what's known as a 'marketing cock up' not a 'loss leader strategy'.

You might also want to review Apple and O2's launch material as well. Just a thought.

 

[bigmc6000]

considering the european operators are putting iphones on firesale to avoid complete failure, i think it's quire certain that the european sales have dissapointed all the parties involved, including apple.

there're several reasons for not to throw a new product to market not expecting it to sell, the lack of iphone sales in europe has made the negotiations with new carriers much more difficult for apple, the image of the product gets ruined, etc etc.

besides, the us sales have not been that great either. it's sold ok, but nowhere near the numbers you'd expect based on the hype.

You consider 100 off the low end version of the phone to be a "firesale?" I'm sure they didn't sell quite as many as they had hoped but as evidenced by the fact that they haven't sold the iPhone in all the countries yet they wanted to see how much of an impact 2.5G vs 3G would make. So they got their market research and made a pretty big chunk of change in the process.

There are two camps in terms of releasing a product before it's perfect. It's not like the iPhone is complete junk. I'm sure there are a lot of arguments against it but it's still in the press and then when Apple releases iPhone 2.0 they can say "hey, look, all those things you were complaining about, you've got them." I think it would take more than a non-3G enabled iPhone to ruin the image of Apple. It's still the best all-in-one portable experience on the planet. (I haven't spoken with the Martians so I can't comment on their technology )

As far the hype - that wasn't Apple's fault. That's all about the media, Apple didn't create the hype, Apple didn't go around saying we sold 15 million in 3 hours, it was the media. Again, the media likes to take things and blow them out of proportion (like nobody has ever heard that before).

Of course the silence from Apple didn't help the hype but that's standard Apple, that's what they do. But still, the insane estimates of sales never came from Apple so saying it didn't live up to the hype is like saying Star Wars didn't gross 600 million domestic (Ep III)so it didn't live up to the hype either...

 

[giokant]

Anyway it's always under politicians and against freedom.

OT:

Actually you are wrong.
La Repubblica is owned by L'Espresso Group which is owned by several industrial and business men. They are not politicians.
If people inside L'Espresso group or their journalist have more left ideas than right , well...that's legal.
Fox News in the Us is probably closer to Republicans than Democrats but it's not owned by George Bush.
Berlusconi tvs, Il Giornale, Mondadori magazine division are not jusT right wing oriented. They are owned by him and his family.

That's quite a big difference.

End of the OffTopic.

 

[JasonK]

Can anyone (other than the gentleman who equated a text notification with visual voicemail) comment on how visual voicemail might work without a dedicated network? Has anyone with an unlocked phone been able to hack VVM?
Can any one tell me where that information might be at?
I am an current iphone user, but my contract is with att.
Any help would be appreciated a lot.
[Rot'nApple: I cant understand why you're friends would be bothered by you're help? Your such a help for us peasant Americans and those no longer loyal to the crown (is that supposed to be capitalized?). Had we never revolted, we might have retained that oh so perfect diction. Damn our rebellion ]

 

[weckart]

Oh don't worry, it's not just you. Americans know that ending in a preposition and saying "alot" is wrong and most people will recognize it as such.

To paraphrase that half-American, Churchill, claiming that ending sentences with a preposition is wrong is something, "up with which I will not put".

 

[bigmc6000]

You're not being serious here, are you?

How about you go over to the financial press instead of AI - which, let's face it, isn't the most independent or reliable of sources? This is what's known as a 'marketing cock up' not a 'loss leader strategy'.

You might also want to review Apple and O2's launch material as well. Just a thought.

We're not talking a Gigli type of situation here. There are still a large number of iPhones running around Europe. (Another Box Office reference) Just because it was estimated at a 70million weekend and only pulled in 50million doesn't make it a failure. Now the media and those expecting 70million will think it is but monetarily, yeah, they are fine.

 

[EagerDragon]

No, not really, one phone for the wife to call and another for the girlfriends...

By the way, it's "Queen's English" not "King's"...

So I guess the wife has one for the husband to call and another for her "best friend" to call.

so that is 60 million people and 2 phone each = 120 million phones. Interesting place.

 

[photo-video]

Another interesting piece of information:

3G iPhone in May, new mobile device at WWDC 2008?

It says Apple will announce the 3G iPhone in May and you'll be able to buy it at the Apple Store the very next day.

 

[MacTheSpoon]

I don't know, this just doesn't seem too likely to me. It's hard to imagine them announcing the 3G iPhone just for Italy. If the product was ready to ship, why not announce it for all countries instead? And if they pre-announced it at all, then sales would stall while people put off their purchases of iPhones for the 3G release, and I don't think they'd want that. So I guess I don't believe there will be any pre-announcements for any country.